World Cup KO: En-ger-land, En-ger-land, En-ger-land (was 'Group G')

Comments

Sterling is a good domestic player - he is not world class, and is normally used to/given the service only City can. He hasnt got those sorts of players around him at international level, and looks lightweight and bereft of ideas to me. Count how many times he seems to run directly into groups of defenders last night. I was praying for Vardy to get on the pitch with HK.

I thought that by the end we were basically playing with Trippier and Young as wingers, Walker was on overlapping runs constantly, and Maguire popped up on the left wing a couple of times. I thought that the shape was good, and personally at no point did I (or anyone in the pub around me) call for a change in formation at all.

Another great one from the Players Tribune - from Raheem Sterling. Covers his dad being killed, helping his mum clean hotel toilets and his sister taking him on three buses to training so he wasn't travelling alone. (has someone already posted it, again?)

With Lukaku, they spent about four hours with him. I think it's mostly an interview but they get them to speak in the way they want it written. Their people then edit it up but the guy behind the Lukaku one said it's mostly about grammar.

BBC and others do similar things with the analysis you see from some footballers.

I like the concept. I imagine a lot of footballers aren't so confident in their own writing ability and would probably just procrastinate if they agreed to write it themselves.

I was wondering how much the style reflects the 'voice' (if you know what I mean). I thought the Lukaku one had a very London 'vernacular' which (to me) made it sound less authentic.

Carl Anka, the guy who edited, said he changed very little. I think it was colloquial but the style of speaking's unsurprising as you see how quickly footballers pick up the language of the local players around them. E.G. Bilic's "to be honests"

Just reading the Shaqiri one. Another great read.

You have all these things mentioned in passing in the supercritical, run-of-the-mill footballer interviews - that Sterling's father was killed, Lukaku's family came from Congo, Shaqiri's from Kosovo – but what all that meant to them is never explored.

A lot of people might not care or might even dislike this view but that kind of thing's made me feel a lot more connected to the England team this time. It's more of a mix that reflects what the PL has looked like for a long time and them playing well would really reflect something positive about our society and stick it to the tabloids and some of our politicians. France did that in '98 (even if it maybe didn't last).

I have to admit the stories of the 3 I read were a little strange to me. All 3 (Sterling, Shaqiri, Lukaku) were almost written in the past tense - as if 'I've made it now I play as a professional and I'm rich'.

There wasn't much of thinking of the next level and kicking on to reach greatness or international accolades.

I think they get asked about that kind of stuff a lot in general interviews and they'll generally say the same things because they have the same goals in football. The point was to show the human side - what they went through to get where they are.